National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and stakeholders have reviewed the scheme’s entrepreneurship training curriculum and monitoring tools.
The Director-General of the Scheme, Brigadier General Muhammad Fadah, who declared the meeting open, urged the participants to be steadfast in appraising the Programme through open discussions that can realign objectives with skills demand and contemporary challenges of graduate youth unemployment.
The DG who was represented by the Director, of Planning, research and statistics, Ahmed Ikaka, also called on them to rejig the curriculum thereby making it attune to the demand of the 21st Century entrepreneurs.
“I salute each one of you and plead with you all to remain steadfast in this sacrificial, yet fulfilling task which you have chosen to develop the capacity of our children and get them off the streets,“ he said.
While reiterating Management’s resolve to reset the priorities of the Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) Programme to be in tune with the expectations and the desired outcomes, the DG called for greater involvement of the private sector to drive the review process to an appreciable level.
“It is our earnest belief that by the time the NYSC Trust Fund receives assent from the President, we would all have cause to celebrate.“
Earlier in her welcome address, the Director of Skills Acquisition And Entrepreneurship Development, Hajiya Walida Siddique Isa, enumerated the programme’s multiple challenges and urged participants to use their expertise to chart a new vista for the future of self-employment by our youthful graduates.
“We shall therefore review the whole gamut of the SAED Implementation framework to ensure that its objectives are appropriately aligned with international practices and remedy deviations from the programme objectives. We shall also rejig and institute necessary changes in the current skill sets to reflect contemporary skills demand worldwide, including developing effective and efficient monitoring and evaluation system.“
